Do Affirmations Build Ego?

[2000]

Will listening to and repeating affirmations build a huge ego and make enlightenment more difficult?

[Joseph Maynor]

Yes.  But they can also build self-acceptance too, which is still egoic but a necessary step on the path towards enlightenment.  But, yeah, for enlightenment, the work is to transcend the self, not to try and manipulate or program it with affirmations.  Affirmations pre-suppose a self-image you are clinging to.  Once you transcend the self-image, affirmations become pointless.

Edited July 21, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Voyager]

 

5 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

Once you transcend the self-image, affirmations become pointless.

I'm finding it difficult to continue with my affirmations after having several awakening / enlightenment experiences. But I still try and do them because I feel like they help reprogram a better quality of 'ego mind'!

[The White Belt]

Here's my two cents.

As a rule of thumb, the closer your affirmations are to objective truth, the better. 

Saying you're a millionaire over and over is a massive waste of time. It's not true and it's not going to get you any more money, but saying 'I CAN be a millionaire' is pretty much true, anybody can be, and it chips away at a limiting belief, if that's what you're interested in. 

Another example

'I am happy'. Now if you aren't happy, saying that over and over again won't help. Yet if you want to become happy, and a limiting belief is blocking you, then repeating 'I can be happy' is far more productive. Think about it. It's objectively true, you can be happy. Anybody can be, and by doing the latter affirmation, you aren't deluding yourself in the process. 

The self help guys say; make it out to be already true and your mind will go to it. I call BS. It's a way of deluding yourself. I've met people who seem to be deluding themselves into happiness so they force a smile and force enthusiasm but it looks like they're dying behind the eyes.

By making it more objective, you combat the negative lies in you without trying to replace them with 'positive' lies, that when you stop buying into them, they won't come back to bite you in the ass!